Vol. III. 1 January 1970
LivingWellUgandaCommunity. Water. Health.

On Lake Victoria, a Second Attempt at Fisheries Reform Tests Both Boats and Bureaucracy

Landing sites from Kasenyi to Kiyindi are living with the new co-managed enforcement model. LivingWellUganda spent a week with fisher cooperatives, NaFIRRI researchers and district fisheries officers to see whether the reforms are landing.

By Sarah NakatoWakiso, Buikwe & Mukono Districts6 min read
Wooden fishing boats pulled up at a Lake Victoria landing site at dawn, with fisher cooperatives sorting the morning catch.
Wakiso, Buikwe & Mukono Districts. 30 July 2025.
MixedEnvironment & Livelihoods

The second wave of Lake Victoria fisheries reform is neither a crackdown nor a return to the fully community-run beach management units of a decade ago. It sits somewhere in between: a co-management model run jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI) and reconstituted landing-site committees.

What is working

At Kasenyi and Kiyindi, cooperatives report a real drop in undersized Nile perch coming ashore since the tightened enforcement of net-mesh sizes. NaFIRRI biomass monitoring backs that up in the near-shore zones most easily patrolled.

What is not

Small-boat operators complain that enforcement remains uneven across the northern shore, and that seized illegal gear too often reappears within weeks. District fisheries officers, for their part, want a stable operating budget and predictable fuel allocation for patrol boats - the recurring blind spot in every fisheries reform since 2015.

Sources & further reading
  1. National Fisheries Resources Research Institute - NaFIRRI
  2. Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries - Government of Uganda
  3. Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization - LVFO
Sarah Nakato
Senior Field Correspondent, Kampala
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